Great Wu Calendar, Year 2034.
The Wilderness.
Wan’an City.
This was the first city the Righteous People conquered in the Wilderness. They nad it Wan’an.
A na that ant safeguarding the peace and security of its myriad households.
The city lived up to its na.
After five years of developnt, the place had been completely transford.
Houses, grand halls, inns, and restaurants lined the streets in dense, orderly rows.
The spacious streets were wide enough for four or five carriages to travel abreast.
Peddlers and porters, rchants and heroes, moved in a constant, bustling stream along the streets.
The city was brimming with life!
At this mont, the entire city was adorned with red Lanterns, creating an exceptionally festive atmosphere.
The marketplace was filled with revelers writing couplets and guessing riddles.
Faces beaming, they welcod the arrival of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Mid-Autumn—a ti for blooming flowers, a full moon, and family reunions.
In this world, its importance was second only to the New Year.
anwhile, inside a tavern...
A storyteller with a gold tooth took a sip of tea to wet his throat. He slapped his wooden block on the table and began to recount the heroic tales from the Jianghu that had unfolded in the Wilderness in recent years.
"It is said that two years ago, the Half-Step Celestial Human Realm Demon Cultivator, Wanyan Bone, hosted a banquet in Celestial City for nurous city lords, all to plot against our Central State Sects."
"And do you know what they were eating? Those Demon Cultivator city lords called their dishes ’Tender with Bone,’ ’Spare the Fla,’ and ’No Envy for Lamb’... To say the scene was grueso would be an understatent!"
"Just as the city lords gathered, quick as a flash, the sky filled with dancing Sword Shadows! An all-encompassing Buddha’s Light shone, and before those Demon Cultivators could even react, they were all decapitated!"
"Afterward, a pair of heroes—one man, one woman—appeared. The man was devastatingly handso, and the woman was ethereally beautiful. They rescued all the civilians trapped inside."
"My dear patrons, do you know who this man and woman were?"
Hearing this, the patrons below began to call out one after another.
"Who hasn’t heard of the Heroic Duo? They’re role models for our generation!"
"That’s right! If I could just see the Heroic Duo once, I’d have no regrets in this life."
"So say the Heroic Duo are none other than Wu Chen, the Buddha’s Son from Wuxiang Temple, and Xu Muying, the next Sword Holder of Celestial Sword Mountain. I don’t know if it’s true, though."
Seeing the crowd grow lively, the storyteller continued:
"That’s right! Those two are truly extraordinary figures. Let’s talk about the Buddha’s Son, Wu Chen. They say he started Bone Refining at just one year old..."
At a small table in the corner of the tavern, Wang Xiao and Xu Muying sat opposite each other, listening to the storyteller’s grand tale.
Xu Muying took a sip of tea and grumbled, "This is giving a headache. These storytellers really know how to spin a yarn. As if we killed a Half-Step Celestial Being with a single sword strike. That fight took everything we had, and we were nearly hunted down by the Demon Lord afterward..."
Wang Xiao smiled. "That’s just how storytelling is. If they didn’t exaggerate, who would bother to listen?"
He was no longer bald, having grown his hair out into a cascade of long, black hair.
His features had grown even more heroic and sharp.
His eyes, in particular, were as deep and vast as the ocean.
Though they seed unremarkable at first, an occasional sharp glint would flash within them, as if capable of piercing one’s very heart.
Anyone in a high Realm would have recognized this as the sign of Concealed Divine Radiance!
It signified that his Spirit had reached a state of near-Perfection.
He was only one final step away from the Heaven-Breaking Pass.
And that was indeed the case.
「Five years.」
Wang Xiao and Xu Muying had killed nearly a hundred Refining Acupoints Human Immortal Demon Cultivators, four of whom were Half-Step Celestial Beings!
After refining the Life Source Crystals from these Demon Cultivators, Wang Xiao’s Spirit had not only grown imnsely, but had also reached the level required for the Heaven-Breaking Pass.
He had even managed to fully analyze the Spiritual Cultivation Technique of the Blood River Race.
This Spiritual Cultivation Technique was called the Blood River Netherworld Demon Scripture.
It was a Magic Technique that continuously enhanced one’s Spirit by absorbing all negative emotions.
However, the Blood River Netherworld Demon Scripture seed to be suitable only for the Blood River Race.
For a human to cultivate it, they would have to beco a Demon Cultivator—a monstrous being, neither human nor ghost!
If Wang Xiao wanted to transform it into a Magic Technique suitable for human Cultivation, he would naturally have to modify it by combining the Spiritual Evolution Path from the Real World with the final four stances of the Celestial Sword: the Heartless Sword!
Fortunately, he was already making headway.
In less than a year, he should be able to develop a completely new Spiritual Cultivation Technique.
Xu Muying spoke up. "I think I’m still short six Refining Acupoints Human Immortal Demon Cultivators to fulfill Master’s requirent. But lately, those Demon Cultivators have all scurried into the depths of the Wilderness. Killing them will be much harder than before."
Wang Xiao shrugged. "That’s to be expected. We’ve killed more than half of the Refining Acupoints Human Immortal Demon Cultivators in the Wilderness. Of course they’re not going to show themselves so easily anymore."
"True. I’ll just have to wait for an opportunity. I’ve still got five years, anyway," Xu Muying said, her expression relaxed.
Wang Xiao said, "My journey here has reached its conclusion. I’m afraid it’s ti for to return to Wuxiang Temple."
His Spirit had now reached Perfection, so refining more Life Source Crystals would be of no use. There was no longer any need for him to remain in the Wilderness.
His best option, naturally, was to return and focus on developing the new Spiritual Cultivation Technique while simultaneously preparing to break through to the Celestial Human Realm!
When Xu Muying heard Wang Xiao’s words, her expression faltered.
"It seems you’ve found a way to break through to the Celestial Human Realm. Congratulations."
Her expression grew distant.
For five years, she had been with Wang Xiao almost constantly.
They had sparred in Martial Arts, studied Sword Techniques, and assassinated Demon Cultivators together...
Now that Wang Xiao was suddenly saying he had to leave, she felt a sudden emptiness in her heart.
Wang Xiao said, "I owe you my thanks for these past five years. Without you, it would have been difficult for to find all these High Tier Demon Cultivators so quickly."
Xu Muying suddenly said, "Broken Monk, did you know? Today is my birthday."
’Broken Monk’ was, of course, her na for Wang Xiao.
Over the years, to avoid revealing their identities, they had given each other nicknas.
Xu Muying called Wang Xiao ’Broken Monk’.
Wang Xiao, in turn, called Xu Muying ’Roasted Fish’.
The reason was simple.
Xu Muying adored roasted fish—so much so that she even insisted on eating roasted-fish-flavored mooncakes.
Wang Xiao was taken aback. "Huh? We’ve been so busy killing Demon Cultivators these past few years, I don’t think we’ve celebrated a single birthday. I didn’t get you a gift... How about I buy you a roasted fish?"
Xu Muying said, "No more roasted fish. I heard you can release flower Lanterns today. Co with ."
"Alright, let’s go," Wang Xiao agreed with a nod.
The two settled their bill and left the tavern. Before long, they arrived at the riverbank in Wan’an City.
The place was already teeming with people, n and won alike, all releasing flower lanterns.
The lanterns floated on the water’s surface, twinkling like a river of stars.
Wang Xiao and Xu Muying each bought a lantern, wrote down their wishes, and released them into the river.
The lanterns bobbed and swayed, carried away by the current.
Xu Muying looked at Wang Xiao. "Do you know what I wished for?"
"A wish won’t co true if you say it out loud," Wang Xiao replied.
"But I want to tell you..."
Xu Muying leaned against the riverside railing. A gentle breeze lifted her hair as her voice carried to Wang Xiao’s ears.
"The truth is, I don’t want to be the Sword Holder at all. I’m scared... I’m scared I’ll end up just like my master."
"You have no idea... I’m terrified of my master. Every ti she gets angry with , I feel like she’s going to kill ."
"No feelings, not a shred of emotion... That’s what I’m going to beco."
Wang Xiao gazed at Xu Muying’s profile. It was the first ti he had ever heard her speak like this.
So, Xu Muying knew all along that inheriting the Celestial Sword ant she would beco Emotionless.
She had just been pretending not to care this whole ti.
Wang Xiao pressed his lips together, just about to speak.
However, at that very mont, a night breeze swept past, thick with the stench of blood.
Wang Xiao’s brow furrowed slightly as he instinctively looked in the direction the sll was coming from.
The next mont, he froze.
He could only watch as, in the distant sky, human heads floated like a string of Lanterns.
There were three or four thousand of them, a dense and horrifying swarm that made one’s blood run cold.
With the heads at the center, the sky for dozens of miles in every direction had turned a ghastly shade of red.
Then, raspy voices began to issue from the severed heads, rging into a single, terrifying chorus.
"Wu Chen! Xu Muying! I know you are in Wan’an City! Co to , or I will begin the slaughter!"
Wang Xiao and Xu Muying both looked shocked. They exchanged a glance and spoke in unison:
"The Demon Lord!"
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